March 22, 2012

Have you seen the show, The Iron Chef? Famous chefs, sometimes very strange ingredients, and a time limit to create a pallet of food that ROCKS! Last night in our combined activity we experienced the:

Aspen Hills Iron Chef.

Five Kitchens.

Five Groups of six kids.

Two Leaders per group.

$8.00 to spend at the grocery store.

1.5 hours to shop and prepare for a meal.

The main ingredient, SOUR CREAM.

The result was the FUNNEST, activity I have EVER attended. This is a long standing tradition in our ward that the youth and the leaders absolutely love! I, however, just joined the young women and this was my first experience.

The RECIPES were:

Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Bundt Cake -Winner

Sour Cream Key Lime Pie

Sour Cream Banana Bread

Sour Cream Chip Dip

Sour Cream Fruit Dip

I will share the pictures of the end results but keep in mind they are from the phone.

The WINNER was my group! :) But EVERY recipe was delicious because the entire table lasted maybe two minutes for all of the kids to swarm and tear apart the food, like lions and their prey.

March 19, 2012

It has been a LONG time since I did Messy Hair Monday! I started videoing the hair styles and then I felt like I couldn't go back to pictures but I didn't have anyone to run the video camera so here we are with photos. It worked in the beginning and it will work again.

This is a pretty standard hair style yet I use it as much as a pony tail. It is super fast yet can be made elegant or casual in our case today.

Part hair off to the right and comb smooth.

Section off a little part.

Twist tightly.

Section off again. Add to the underneath of the twist and
twist again.

Repeat all the way around the head.

Twist Tightly and add holder. If hair is extra thick you may
need to put hair pins to hold. Peanut's holds in really well.

March 16, 2012

It is a Emily Taylor Design kind of day here at The Three Sweet Peas. Stop by for a chair Reupholstery project with some gorgeous fabric! Counter Stools and dining chairs seem to be the theme this week!!

March 14, 2012

There are a lot of these IKEA Ektorp Slip covered couches out in blogging land! In fact so many people have so many opinions about them I ended up PURCHASING one, against my better judgement and my HUSBANDS!

Could all of the review be TRUE? A white couch with a husband, three children, a brown dog, & friends? I mean Almost every person said the same thing, wash, hang to dry and a brand new couch? OK, I took the plunge and this is what I discovered!

Let's start with my first discovery!

This couch has a 100% cotton cover and every dust bunny, every hair, every piece of clothing shows the lint on this couch. I was expecting dirty hand prints not lint.

With that being said, a lint remover worked wonders. After I spent about 30 seconds cleaning it off it looks good as new again.

Next Item of Business!

Washing the SOFA. I read the reviews of pulling the slip covers are a pain, a real workout.. I wanted to know what I had gotten myself into so out came the timer.

I had the entire sofa stripped down to bare bones and in the washer in two minutes! WHAT! Craziness. And after the washing & drying cycle I spent about 3-4 minutes putting everything back together so about 6 minutes total. IT WAS SO EASY!

The washing cycle the BEST tip of the day!

I washed the slip covers in cold water. There are reports that they shrink, they are extremely wrinkly, & DON'T use the dryer, etc. I have the SOLUTION for all of that! This is where the best TIP of the day comes in!

After the covers were washed, shake and place in dryer on low heat. On my dryer it will stop on my desired dampness. Not all dryers have this option, turn the heat as low as it will go and run it for about 15 minutes. The cover should come out damp but not wet.

Shake the cover out and PUT IT ON YOUR COUCH! Yes, put the damp cover on your couch. Straighten and pull as you go, make sure the bottom pleats are folded in nicely.

Put the cushions back on and avoid sitting on the couch for a couple of hours. They will dry wrinkle free and you will have a brand new couch.

My covers did not shrink because of the low temperatures that were used.

Keep the lint roller handy for all of those pesky little pieces of fuz and you will have an amazing experience with your WHITE EKTORP COUCH!

March 13, 2012

While surfing Pinterest I came upon a handy little tip that saved me about $30.00! While painting my counter stools I let the paint dry hard as a rock, in my nice Purdy brushes! I knew I had to try this little tip or I was off to Home Depot to buy some new brushes! IT WORKED!

Here is the sweet little secret!

Soak the dried paint brushes in vinegar to loosen up the paint a bit. I soaked my a couple of hours because they were DRY!

Bring a pot of vinegar to boil and boil the brushes for about ten minutes. This will vary again depending on the paint in the brushes. I removed them from the stove and let them soak longer.

I used a paint brush comb and started working through the bristles.

I kept at it..

..And the paint slowly started coming out. I re-soaked and started the process again.

And the final product! Three usable brushes! They are stained, but that is OK with me!

The moral of the story, don't let paint dry in your nice brushes but if you do, Vinegar is here to save the day!

March 12, 2012

OK, I have a confession to make. I have this little addiction to shopping for furniture that I can refinish or change. I keep purchasing, and am loving it, but my garage and husband are NOT! I found these black beauties and I KNEW exactly what I wanted to do with them! These counter stools turned out STUNNING! I LOVE THEM! I hope you enjoy this SWEET little tutorial so you can create your own SWEET pair of counter stools!! I feel like Napoleon Dynamite! :)

The Original Bar Stool. Nice Enough, but wait for the finished product. Sand lightly.

Paint with color of choice. I chose turquoise. I painted two heavy coats of the paint.

I used an electric sander to distress with a VERY FINE sand paper. I used a new paper for each stool.

The next part is the unique finish of the stools! I LOVE IT! First and foremost the pictures do not do justice, just know that these are rock star counter stools!

I used my tissue paper mod podge technique here! I took it to a whole new level! FURNITURE! OH YEA! OH, the POSSIBILITIES!

I printed off the graphic I was using and found the center of the paper and center of the stool.

Add mod podge and spread to the area that will contain the tissue paper.

Set tissue paper on top of the mod podge. You will have wrinkles and bumps. Smooth down and know you will get some rips but that is part of the imperfection.

Wipe off any excess mod podge.

You will let the glue set until almost dry.

You will start sanding the paper and the lines of the paper will start to become part of the wood. SOOO COOL!

Sand as heavily or as light as you wish. I did a pretty heavy sanding job on mine. I wanted it to appear like screen printing and aged, all in one.

After you achieve the results you like. I finished the bar stools off with two coats of polyurethane.